When God walks Side by Side With You

In Bhagwat Gita Lord Krishna has given a promise that He is always with His devotees. Whosoever, worships Him with true heart, He is always with that person. But it is our mind only that is not having complete faith in Him & His powers. We do not actually know how resourceful & powerful God is & that He can take care of all of our problems. It's only that we should have unswerving faith in Him. If we do have such faith in Him & always think of Him, pray Him, then there is no chance that He shall not be with you always & in times of your adversity. Recently I was listening to a devotional song / bhazan by Sh. Vinod Aggarwal Ji in which he was describing about the story of a person, who wanted to test his faith in God - Lord Krishna, whether or not God is always with him. Story goes like this:

Once there was a devotee of Lord Krishna who always used to have faith in the powers of the God & always used to pray Him in his mind. That person was very rich. That person prayed to God & asked the God that I love you, pray you, adore you so much but how come I am to know that You are with me & shall protect me in all circumstances.

God told him, "You see, you daily goes for a morning walk by the bank of the river. Now onwards I shall walk by your side, whenever, you shall go for the morning walk."

Next day that person went for the morning walk but could not see anybody over there. When he came back from the morning walk, he started complaining to God, "As promised, You have not come to my side when I went for the morning walk. God, I could not see You during my morning walk."

God said to him, "I have come during your morning walk but with these eyes you could not see Me".

Devotee, "O God, then how am I to know that You are with me?"

God said to him, " See, whenever you walk by the side of the river, you normally see only two footsteps of yours. Now ,whenever, you see four footsteps instead of two, just think that I am walking by you."

It started happening that way only & that person always saw four footsteps & felt happy & confident that God is with him & walking by him.

Life is the name of change. Now the times changed & with the quirk of fate, somehow that person lost his wealth & got poor. When the wealth was gone, all his near & dear ones turned their faces away from that person. He started to feel very lonely but was confident that in all these times of adversity, though all his near & dear ones, friends & relatives have left him but at least his revered God-Lord Krishna is with him. That person still used to go for the morning walk. But surprisingly during these times of adversity he again started seeing only two footsteps instead of four, during his walk by the river. Now that person was very surprised that his revered, lovable God too has left him during the adverse times. He started regretting & crying but ultimately said in his mind, "Let it be the will of God, what he can do?"

Life for that man went on like that only & with time, again his times changed & he once again became rich & prosperous. But now when he went to the morning walk by the side of the river he again started seeing four footsteps instead of two. Now he got impatient & complained to God that this is not fair.

He said to God, "It's all right that in my adverse times all my near & dear ones had left me but how come that You too, who always promised me to be with me, too had left me in my adverse times. God, how come that You leave your devotee in his bad times?"

Now God could not keep His silence & told that person, "O My Dear one, in your times of adversity the two footsteps that you saw were not yours but these were of Him."
That man said, "How can it be that those footsteps were Yours & not mine?"

God said, "O My Dear one, in your times of adversity, YOU WERE IN MY LAP & I ALWAYS WALKED TAKING YOU IN MY LAP ONLY. In such a condition how can your footsteps be there on the bank of the river. Those two footsteps in your adverse times were mine only. Now your good time has come so now once again I shall be separate from you & shall always walk by your side."

In Bhagwat Gita Lord Krishna tells Arjuna to always have faith in Him only as, whosoever, keeps faith in Lord Krishna, He always protects that devotee.

"ananyas cintayanto mam
ye janah paryupasate
tesham nityabhiyuktanam
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Nine verse 22)

"Lord Sri Krishna says to Arjuna: But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form—to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have."

"ananya-cetah satatam
yo mam smarati nityasah
tasyaham sulabhah partha
nitya-yuktasya yoginah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Eight verse 14)

"Lord Sri Krishna says: Whosoever, always & constantly remembers Me with undivided mind; by that person, I am easy to obtain, O Arjuna, because of his constant engagement in the devotional service to Me."

Jai Sri Krishna